TEHRAN - The Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations has said Israel's recent aggression against Iran was a blatant violation of the UN Charter, the fundamental principles of international law and the country’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty.

In a statement on Wednesday, the 18-member UN group condemned in the strongest terms the Israeli regime’s “pre-mediated and heinous” act of aggression against Iran on October 26, which resulted in the martyrdom of four servicemen of the Iranian Armed Forces and one civilian, IRNA reported on Thursday.

Israeli warplanes used US-controlled airspace over Iraq to fire projectiles at military installations in Iranian provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan, and Ilam in flagrant breach of the country's national sovereignty.

The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces has confirmed in a statement that Israel used the US-controlled airspace in Iraq.

The General Staff also said that a significant number of the missiles were intercepted, and the Israeli warplanes were blocked from entering Iran’s airspace.

Iran has said it is resolved to respond to the act of aggression and will not abandon its right.

The UN group said the attack violated the UN Charter which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of countries.

It expressed its serious concern about the continuation of the Israeli regime’s efforts to ignite a broader war in West Asia and put the region on fire.

“Just as repeated gross violations of international law, the provocations and aggressions of the Israeli regime against the countries of the region show its intention to escalate tensions,” the statement said, Press TV reported.

It stressed the urgent need to hold the Israeli regime accountable for all its crimes against the people of Palestine and other Arab nations in the occupied territories and across the region.

The member countries of the group expressed their solid solidarity with the Iranian people and government and offered their condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the Israeli attack.

The Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations was established in July 2021 in New York with initial 16 UN member states (Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Nicaragua, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Syria, and Venezuela) and one UN observer state (Palestine).

Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe and Mali later joined the group while Burundi, Ethiopia, Namibia, South Africa and Vietnam were given the observer status in 2022.

The main goal of the grouping is to support the UN Charter and serve as a platform, among other things, to promote the prevalence of legality over force.